Senior Programs

Presently,
there are three senior programs administered by SEBCO. The first is
the Service Coordinator program which provides social service staff
to each of our senior residences. The program began in 1982 when SEBCO
opened its first HUD (202) funded Senior Citizen Project known as Erma
Cava I.

Now, SEBCO operates 8 senior buildings, each with a
HUD funded staff member known as a service coordinator. The service
coordinators provide assistance and social services to our 720 senior
residents. These service coordinators also provide special educational
and recreational programs as well as individual case management.
The second program under Senior Services is the administration of two
senior centers. In late 1992, SEBCO was selected by the New York City
Department for the Aging (“DFTA”) to provide hot lunches and
supportive services to the local senior community. Until last year,
SEBCO ran one center at Erma Cava with a satellite program at Pio
Mendez. In December 2012, SEBCO was awarded a new contract to run a
center at Erma Cava. At that location, SEBCO now serves approximately
100 hot meals and provides a wide variety of supportive services,
including transportation, case management, outside referrals,
group activities, trips, seminars, etc. Membership is open to any
senior citizen over the age of 60.

SEBCO’s Senior Service’s
mission is to provide quality services to our members to meet their
daily nutritional, emotional, physical, intellectual and social needs,
and to make their lives as productive and rewarding as possible, to
expand their resources, and to develop and encourage their
individual opportunities and involvement. SEBCO ventures to maintain and
improve, to the extent possible, the quality of life of its members.
It also serves to provide a meeting place for seniors to interact with
one another and socialize. Their interest vary, ranging from learning
arts and crafts, dance and quilting, exercising, walking and staying
healthy, socializing with friends, playing dominoes or bingo, attending
movie specials, attending day trips, attending nutrition education
seminars, and the like.

Over the years, new programs have been
introduced that meet the needs of our senior citizen population. These
include a Walking Club and a Fitness and Wellness Program that
measures and tracks vital statistics by taking daily readings of blood
pressure. The Center also created an Arts and Performance Program
composed of singers, musicians and dancers from ERMA CAVA and the
surrounding community that performed outdoors at Tiffany Plaza and at
other centers throughout the summer months.

A partnership was
also formed between HUD and SEBCO’s Senior Program to bring the national
Neighborhood Networks computer program to four of our
facilities. Erma Cava I and II, Parkview and Cordova all have been
equipped with computer labs that facilitate weekly lessons for our
residents on how to navigate the web and communicate with their
friends and family. This training has empowered many of our seniors to
establish their own Internet Café in each of their buildings to
socialize and access healthcare information and other services to
improve their quality of life.

In November 2012, SEBCO was
also awarded another existing senior center, the Mt. Carmel
Neighborhood Senior Center located in the Belmont section of the Bronx,
also known as “Little Italy”. The center located at 2405 Southern
Blvd. has long been considered the guardian of the traditions of the
aging Italian-American community. Italian-Americans from all over the
Bronx come here to dance to the live sounds of the old Italian music
masters, play pool on our 8’ table and eat fresh made traditional
Italian meals like manicotti, eggplant parmesan and lasagna. Mt. Carmel
serves approximately 75-100 members and guests a day. Mt. Carmel also
offers the wide variety of programs, social services, educational,
recreational and case management services offered at our other
location.

The third senior program is the Mental Health/Case
Assistant program that SEBCO established after receiving additional
funding from HUD to hire two additional staff for the Erma Cava I, II,
Parkview Houses and Cordova Houses. They are equipped to provide more
professional social service and counseling to our seniors, both
individual and in group settings.